Drawer Rack for a Cabinet

ABSTRACT

The invention relates to a drawer rack (10) for a cabinet, in particular for a kitchen cabinet (1), having upright side walls (2) oriented parallel to each other and a rear wall which extends between said side walls and delimits a cabinet interior to the sides and rear. The drawer rack has a rack frame (6) which can be transferred from a closed position in the cabinet interior to an opening position moved out of the cabinet interior via telescopic rails (11). At least one tray (9) or similar piece of equipment can be supported on at least one vertical supporting column (8) of the drawer rack (10). According to the invention, to provide a drawer rack (10) which has a simple structure and has a pivotable frame in the open position, the rack frame (6) is hingedly connected via a pivoting lever (13) to a movable telescopic rail (11), and the rack frame (6) is hinged to the pivoting lever (13) pivotably relative to the latter. The telescopic rail (11) is assigned a slotted guide (14) along which the rack frame (6) can move when in the open position transferred into the opening position, for a pivoting movement of the rack frame (6) relative to the telescopic rail (11).

The invention relates to a drawer rack for a cabinet, in particular for a kitchen cabinet, with upright sidewalls that are oriented parallel to each other, a rear wall extending between these sidewalls, which delimit a cabinet interior laterally and to the rear, with a rack frame that is transferable via telescopic rails from a closed position located inside the cabinet interior into an open position moved out of the cabinet interior, wherein at least one tray or similar piece of equipment is supportable at least at one vertical support column of the rack frame.

Drawer racks for cabinets, for example, for tall kitchen cabinets, are generally known and have usually a rack frame to which the trays are fastened, for example, via a rearward vertical support column of the rack frame. The rack frame, in turn, is fastened to telescopic rails which are connected to a cabinet bottom. When the trays are fastened to a vertical rear support column, usually a front element in the manner of a door of the cabinet is fastened to a front vertical support column so that such a drawer rack can is designed in the manner of a pull-out pantry. In the pulled-out open position of the drawer rack, the trays are accessible from the side. This is disadvantageous in practical use because in the open position of the drawer rack the latter is not accessible from the front.

Drawer racks are already known in which in the open position the rack frame can be pivoted such that it is accessible from the front, i.e., from the operating side. The constructive expenditure required for this is however considerable.

It is therefore object of the present invention to provide a drawer rack for cabinets that in the pulled-out state of the drawer rack is configured to be pivotable such that it is accessible from the operating side and therefore from the front; however, this is to be realized in a constructively simple way.

As a solution to this object, the drawer rack of the aforementioned kind is characterized in that the rack frame is connected via a pivot lever pivotably with a translatorily movable telescopic rail and in that the rack frame is connected to the pivot lever so as to be pivotably moveable relative thereto, wherein the telescopic rail has correlated therewith a guide structure, along which the rack frame in its open position is embodied to be moveable for a pivot movement of the rack frame.

Accordingly, a drawer rack for a cabinet is made available in which the rack frame can be pivoted at the translatorily movable telescopic rail in its open position via a simply constructed pivot lever and via a simply constructed guide structure. The components required for this are significantly reduced in comparison to conventional configurations. The pivot point of the pivot lever is located in the forward region of the telescopic rail so that an optimal pivot travel in the open position of the drawer rack is made available for the pivot movement of the rack frame and of the trays or other pieces of equipment fastened thereto. The pull-out length of the drawer rack in comparison to known racks is shortened because the pull-out travel must no longer be greater than the installation length. Instead, the drawer rack according to the invention can be designed as a complete pull-out device in which the pull-out length is somewhat smaller than the installation depth. The guide structure can also block or lock the rack frame in its pivoted position. When the pull-out device is pivoted, the pull-out device is blocked and cannot be returned. The pivoting action can also be realized via links in the manner of a four-bar linkage.

Preferably, a bottom frame support of the rack frame has two guide bodies that interact with the guide structure for a pivot movement of the rack frame. Preferably, the guide structure has two guide structure members, one for a pivot movement in clockwise direction and one for a pivot movement in counterclockwise direction, wherein a guide path is provided on an outer defect surface of the respective guide structure part. In addition, parallel to and substantially congruent to the pull-out telescopic rail, a central rectilinear guide path extends between the two guide structure members. A guide body of the rack frame can engage this central guide path, wherein a further guide body of the rack frame can run along the outer bandel [sic] surface of the respective guide structure member as a secondary guide path so that in this way a movement path for the pivot movement of the rack frame is provided. The guide bodies can be designed as guide rollers.

At the hinge location between the pivot lever and the rack frame, a further guide body can be provided that ensures that the rack frame together with the pivot lever can be pushed into the telescopic rail, wherein, in the pushed-in state, the guide body at the hinge location between the pivot lever and the bottom frame support of the rack frame is also positioned in the rectilinear guide path of the guide structure so that in this state the rack frame, positioned in the guide path of the guide structure, is prevented from carrying out a pivot movement. This has the result that the rack frame can be safely transferred into its closed position in the cabinet interior.

Further advantageous embodiments of the invention result from the additional dependent claims, the following description, and the drawing. The drawing shows in:

FIG. 1: an embodiment of a drawer rack according to the invention, illustrated in a perspective illustration at a tall kitchen cabinet in the pulled-out state of the drawer rack or of the rack frame with tablets arranged thereat;

FIG. 2: also in a perspective illustration the embodiment according to FIG. 1 in the pivoted state of the rack frame with the trays;

FIG. 3: the embodiment according to FIG. 2 in a plan view;

FIG. 4: the embodiment according to FIG. 2 in an analogous illustration in a position of the drawer rack shown pivoted oppositely relative to the illustration of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5: a plan view of the embodiment according to FIG. 4;

FIG. 6: a plan view of the bottom telescopic rail with guide structure and bottom frame support of the rack frame in a plan view in pushed-in-state;

FIG. 7: the embodiment according to FIG. 6 in a perspective illustration;

FIG. 8: an illustration in analogy to FIG. 6 with illustration of the bottom frame support in a state pulled out a little;

FIG. 9: the embodiment according to FIG. 8 in a perspective illustration;

FIG. 10: the embodiment according to FIGS. 6 to 9 in a state pulled out farther;

FIG. 11: the embodiment according to FIG. 10 in a perspective illustration;

FIG. 12: the embodiment according to FIGS. 6 to 11 in the pulled-out state of the rack frame with a rack frame pivoted in clockwise direction in plan view;

FIG. 13: the embodiment according to FIG. 12 in a perspective illustration;

FIG. 14: an illustration in analogy to FIG. 12 in which the rack frame is pivoted counterclockwise in the open position; and

FIG. 15: the embodiment according to FIG. 14 in a perspective illustration.

In the drawing, identical parts are referred to with identical reference characters. In general, a tall kitchen cabinet which comprises sidewalls 2, a top 3 as well as a bottom 4 is identified by 1. Moreover, a front cover 5 is provided that is fastened to a rack frame, generally referred to by 6, at a forward vertical support column 7 (FIG. 2). At the rearward support column 8, trays 9 are attached. The rack frame 6 is part of a drawer rack, generally referred to by 10, that comprises telescopic rails 11 and a bottom frame support 12 of the rack frame 6 that is connected by a pivot lever 13 with the telescopic rail 11 (FIG. 9).

A guide structure 14 is provided at the telescopic rail 11. Between the two guide structure members 14.1 and 14.2, a rectilinear groove-shaped guide path 14.3 is embodied into which, in the pushed-in state of the rack frame 6 with its bottom frame support 12, the guide body 15, the guide body 16, and the guide body 17 can be accommodated, as is illustrated in FIGS. 6 to 11.

A second guide path 14.4 is embodied at the first guide structure member 14.1, and namely at the forward outer wall surface and a second guide path 14.4 is also embodied at the second guide structure member 14.2. These outer guide paths 14.4 serve to allow for the guide bodies 16, located in the forward region or in a central region of the bottom frame support 12, to glide along thereat while the guide body 15 is still located within the rectilinear guide path 14.3. This is illustrated in particular also in FIGS. 14 and 15 relative to the FIGS. 12 and 13, wherein the position of the guide bodies configured as guide rollers 15 and 16 are shown for different pivot movements in clockwise direction (FIGS. 12 and 13) and counterclockwise direction (FIGS. 14 and 15). 

What is claimed is: 1.-10. (canceled)
 11. A drawer rack for a cabinet, the drawer rack comprising: upright sidewalls oriented parallel to each other; a rear wall extending between the upright sidewalls, wherein the upright sidewalls and the rear wall delimit a cabinet interior of the cabinet laterally and to the rear of the cabinet; telescopic rails including a translatorily movable telescopic rail; a rack frame connected to the telescopic rails and transferable by the telescopic rails from a closed position in which the rack frame is located inside the cabinet interior into an open position in which the rack frame is removed from the cabinet interior, wherein the rack frame comprises at least one vertical support column and at least one tray supported at least at the at least one vertical support column of the rack frame; a pivot lever connecting the rack frame pivotably to the translatorily movable telescopic rail, wherein the rack frame is pivotably connected to the pivot lever; wherein the translatorily movable telescopic rail comprises a guide structure; wherein the rack frame, when in the open position, is configured to move along the guide structure to carry out a pivot movement of the rack frame relative to the translatorily movable telescopic rail.
 12. The drawer rack according to claim 11, wherein the rack frame comprises a bottom frame support, wherein the pivot lever is connected pivotably by a pivot bearing to the bottom frame support, wherein the bottom frame support comprises a first guide body arranged in a first guide path of the guide structure, and wherein the rack frame is guided by the first guide body in the first guide path of the guide structure.
 13. The drawer rack according to claim 12, wherein the first guide path is rectilinear.
 14. The drawer rack according to claim 12, wherein the rack frame comprises a second guide body configured to guide the rack frame along a second guide path of the guide structure during the pivot movement of the rack frame so that the pivot movement of the rack frame is determined by the first and second guide bodies and the first and second guide paths, wherein the first guide path is rectilinear and the second guide path is arc-shaped.
 15. The drawer rack according to claim 14, wherein the first and second guide bodies are guide rollers.
 16. The drawer rack according to claim 11, wherein the guide structure is arranged in a terminal region of the translatorily moveable telescopic rail.
 17. The drawer rack according to claim 11, wherein the guide structure comprises two guide structure members, each comprising an arc-shaped outer wall region, wherein the guide structure comprises a rectilinear guide path provided between the arc-shaped outer wall regions of the two guide structure members.
 18. The drawer rack according to claim 11, wherein the pivot lever is moveable into a rectilinear guide path of the guide structure when the rack frame moves in a closing movement from the open position into the closed position.
 19. The drawer rack according to claim 18, wherein the pivot lever comprises a pivot connection to the rack frame and the pivot connection comprises a pivot lever guide body movable into the rectilinear guide path of the guide structure during the closing movement of the rack frame.
 20. The drawer rack according to claim 11, further comprising a blocking device interacting with the guide structure such that, in a pulled-out and pivoted state of the rack frame, the rack frame is blocked from performing a push-in movement into the cabinet interior. 